Cuban, who Forbes valued as worth $2.3 billion, may want to purchase the storied franchise, but as I wrote recently, you can scratch him off the list, pretty much right out of the gate.

This isn’t about money, although whoever gets the club will certainly need it. The projected purchase price is being set at around $1 billion for the Cubs, with Wrigley Field and Wrigley Field Premium Tickets in tow.

This is about what type of owner MLB wants in their brethren. A brethren that was coined “The Lodge” by John Helyar in the must-own book Lords of the Realm.

For those Cubs fans who are excited about the possibility of a free-spending owner taking over their beloved team, the news that Cuban formally has taken the first step in the bid process is huge.

But it's hard to shake the image of Commissioner Bud Selig holding Cuban's application by his thumb and index finger, and at arm's length, as if he were holding a rat by the tail. That's probably unfair to Cuban, who runs a successful NBA franchise, but it seems to sum up baseball's general estimation of him.

While the groups may shift, I outlined in Who Might Be Owning the Chicago Cubs?, there were currently four ownership groups that are in a position to purchase. Morrissey throws in Tom Ricketts, as well as a group led by Chicago attorney Thomas Mandler and businessman Jim Anixter.

But, all bets should be on private investor John Canning, Jr. He’s got the inside track, much as Lewis Wolff did with the Athletics.

As for Cuban… He’ll be talked about by MLB as offering up a “serious bid,” but make no mistake… he’ll be in place only to help keep the bidding high. Cuban simply is too controversial to be allowed in the halls of The Lodge.

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